Best minimumweight ever vs best minimumweight of the 2000s. How much of a chance do you give Calderon in this one? :bbb
Not a very good one..I think lopez would have walked him down and capitalized on Ivan's weak chin. You're talking about a special fighter here in Lopez.
Calderon's chin was pretty decent at minimumweight though, it was only when he was past-prime and at light-fly that the cracks appeared, IMO. For all we know, the same could've happened to Lopez had he fought Carbajal and Gonzalez (just playing devil's advocate here btw, I'd back Lopez to clean out light-fly!).
I think it would be an excellent fight. Calderon is a bit under the radar as far as his accomplishments, but hes an excellent fighter too. His style could pose some problems to Lopez being a southpaw with good defense and combination punching. I wouldnt say Lopez just blows him away.
DIfference was that Lopez carried the kind of power to ko or keep anyone honest at those weights... Calderon dont,,, besides Lopez never showed a shaky chin... ROsendo ALvarez was a pretty good puncher and although he gave Lopez all he wanted,, Lopez never showed a shakiy chin even against punchers. Unlike Calderon,,not saying he had a bad chin but, but Lopez clearly had the better one.. In a head to head matchup Prime Calderon would do well early, maybe taking a slight lead... But by the mid rounds Lopez is walking him down,,with his pin point accurate shots, repaeatedly hurting him...Calderon is able to hang in a few rounds playing it safe.. BUt its a matter of time..... Lopez ko 9 Calderon.
I don't think Calderon fares well here, or fares well against anyone above 112 pounds with a relentless agressive style (I see the smallest weakest version of Arce having a field day just beating Calderon up and ignoring his boxing efforts). When you are only 5' tall, you better have something to keep a taller fast guy with power from teeing off on you, and Calderon didn't, except his solid skills and movement - he wasn't even that blindingly fast, he was better at slowing down the contact than actually "trading" quickly with his good footwork and timing. So, since Calderon has NO reach, NO power, I think he did very good for himself but doesn't beat a lot of ATGs near his size.
